▲ Chairperson Jeong Il-yeon of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission briefs on the findings of an investigation into the mismanagement of sports-related subsidies by local governments at the Government Complex Sejong in Sejong City on the 10th.
It has been revealed that subsidy projects aimed at expanding residents' participation in sports activities by some basic local governments were improperly managed.
The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced today (the 10th) that it selected 12 local governments where mismanagement of sports-related subsidy settlement and administration was a concern, and conducted an investigation into their implementation status over the past three years (2022–2024), uncovering various cases of irregularities.
First, revenue such as athlete participation fees generated when local sports organizations hosted various competitions should have been reflected in business plans and other documents, but in many cases, they were omitted from the subsidy application stage all the way to settlement.
Federation A is suspected of misappropriating approximately 140 million won by repeatedly submitting the same materials to multiple basic local governments as proof of revenue expenditure.
It was found that Sports Council B arbitrarily used a portion of the revenue generated from participation fees for purposes such as condolence money for association leaders.
Cases of subsidy embezzlement were also confirmed, such as the secretary-general of Association C pocketing some 390 million won in project funds over 162 instances by using business registration certificates under the names of family members and friends to falsely order supplies to be used for projects.
In addition, circumstances were detected where sports organizations arbitrarily used sports event attraction funds without proof or settlement, or where subsidies were used as discretionary allowances for executives of related associations.
The ACRC explained, "The scale of subsidies injected into subsidized projects where revenue management was not properly handled amounts to at least 20 billion won."
The ACRC plans to notify basic local governments of the investigation results, recommend corrective measures such as recovery of funds, and request investigations for matters requiring criminal punishment, such as embezzlement and breach of trust.
ACRC Chairperson Jeong Il-yeon stated, "We will continuously monitor to ensure that various subsidies for projects utilizing public funds are used for the right purposes."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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